Analysis of the Good Earth

Analysis of The Good Earth What would The Good Earth be without “the good earth”? Nothing. Pearl Buck’s novel was chocked full of mentions of “the good earth.” “The good earth” is obviously the central theme in this novel. Wang Lung and his family are tied to “the good earth” throughout throughout the book. Even when the family was not living on the land, the reader could still identify the strong ties that the family famil y had to the land. It is almost ironic that the book begins with Wang Lung on his land, and after all that Wang Lung and his family have gone through, the book ends at exactly the same place it began, with Wang Lung on his land. But, Wang Lung’s relationship with the land changes. At the beginning of the book Wang Lung depends on the land for survival and at the end he still depends on it for survival, but in a different way. While not living on his land, Lung’s mind was consumed with thoughts of “the good earth.” To Wang Lung, his land is everything. Wang Lung’s only reverence about leaving to go to the South for the winter, because of the famine, is that he’s worried about his land. When Wang Lung buys and moves into the House of Hwang, he still misses and longs for his land. When he thinks his sons are not behaving properly, he tells them that they should spend more time working on the land and farming. Before Wang Lung dies, he moves back to his humble country house to be able to walk on the earth and inhale the smell of it into his lungs. “The good earth” was a source of much of Wang Lung’s prosperity. Wang Lung had always been a poor and humble farmer. The only thing Wang Lung had to his name was his small parcel of land. His land meant everything in the world to him. When Wang Lung returned to his village from the South, he bought much more land. He would rent out this land and collect high

rent. He purchases Ching's land and invites him to live with the family as manager of the hired labor.